STOVES questions and answers here(see mod note in post 1)

avud

Hi guys
I am about to fit a cara insert stove, had chimney cleaned and inspected and told it was in good condition. Is it advisable/safer to fot a flue liner or would I be ok just to connect from top of insert to chimney ?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Brianne

We've fitted an insert stove also and was told our chimney was fine but we still lined it. A guy Stoveman who used post here and was quite an expert on all this recommended in general to line the chimney was a better job when putting in a stove. Seemingly way easier to clean also when lined.

The Stove Man

avud wrote: »

Hi guys
I am about to fit a cara insert stove, had chimney cleaned and inspected and told it was in good condition. Is it advisable/safer to fot a flue liner or would I be ok just to connect from top of insert to chimney ?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

You do not need to re line a chimney if the pots are in good condition, there is no safety issue regarding re lining a chimney
The only benefit of relining is a little better draught when the fire first lights and avoiding a connection with an adapter and the clay pots, which can be difficult to get correct
The life of a reasonably priced flexi liner is usually 5-10 years and then it will need to be replaced, the clay liners will last a lifetime if properly maintained and swept.
More important than re lining is to put a rain cowl on the top of the chimney to prevent rain entering the chimney and stove.

Autorotation

Hello all, after quite a lot of research on here and the internet in general, I have more or less decided (I think!) on getting an Inis Bofin inset stove. I was thinking of the Stanley Cara inset but the Inis sounds a bit better I think. Does anyone have any experience of this stove? What are your thoughts? Was also looking at the Aarrow because of the lifetime guarantee but apparently Inis have a very good customer service (from Galway) along with a 5 year guarantee. Thank you all!...

ftnbase

ravendude wrote: »

Hi there,
We're thinking about getting a Boru 600i installed in an existing fireplace. The existing surround will go, as it's made from wood, and stove may generate too much heat.

Does anyone have any experiences with this Stove, good/bad? Do they throw out a lot of heat in comparison to a stand alone stove, - we have a quite large area to heat.

Also, it's going into an existing fireplace, it all seems almost too straight forward, - it will apparently just require a flu kit connected to the chimney pot, and the existing fireplace opening will be widened slightly, and the stove raised several inches off the floor. He measured it all up etc and reckons its all good. Does this sound right? Is there anything wrt to the installation that i should be watching out for? House is approx 15 years old if that matters.
I would be installed by the stove vendor so I'd be a little concerned they might skimp on the installation somehow to get the sale, - I might be a bit over cautious in this regard though. The benefit I guess is at least we only deal with one party who takes responsibility, - no blaming the other guy.

Thanks for any info! We're a little freaked out as have read about a few horror stories with stoves now.

I installed one of these in November 2011. It was installed by the vendor. The job was done in less than two hours - there was no fireplace to remove so that made the job easier than yours.

The room in which it is installed is 60 square metres (2.7m high ceilings). We never used the fireplace before the stove was installed, relying on the central (underfloor) heating instead. The room never seemed tobe warm.

After we installed the stove the change was incredible. We now use the room all the time. We put on a fire at 4-5pm and it burns until maybe 10.30pm. We use compressed wood logs - one 10kg packet per night - costing slightly less than €3 per pack. In the morning the room is still warm because of the heat emitted by the chimney breast. Our oil usage has reduced by 30-40%.

The stove itself is very easy to operate and it has not given any trouble to date. I have just noticed in the past few weeks that the draught is getting a bit hard to control (too much draught) but I think that the fire rope needs replacing. We were told by the supplier that this would have to be done within a year or two - it will cost about €20 to replace. I don't know how one of these would operate with coal but on the basis of the output from the heatlogs I imagine the output using coal would be incredible.

The controls are easy to operate - it takes a few weeks to figure them out but after that they become second nature.

There was one job that the vendor did not do which was a bit of a pain - he would not install the chimney rain cover on the roof even though he supplied it and charged seperately for it on the bill! I had to get a builder to do that seperately and I would have been able to buy a cover cheaper in the local builders merchant myself. If you are worried about the installer why do you not ask him to give the names of a few people who he installed stoves for and visit them to see what you think of the job.
If I had to choose again I would pick the Boru -I am very pleased with it.

mikehn

H
I hope someone can give me an opinion on the following, I have two fireplaces back to back serving my sitting room and kitchen/dining area. My central heating is gas and we find it quite expensive to run.The sitting room is an open fire and the kitchen/dining area has a gas fire inset in the fire place.
We have been offered a Rayburn solid fuel cooker and would like to install it in place of the gas fire , it would not be plumbed into the heating system, simply to provide heat and use of the oven.
The gather for both the fire places is quite low, is there any simple way to tap into the flue for the stove. I havent done anything like this before although I am am a pretty competent diyer if there is such a thing. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Brianne

The Stove Man wrote: »

The life of a reasonably priced flexi liner is usually 5-10 years and then it will need to be replaced, the clay liners will last a lifetime if properly maintained and swept.

We put in 904 flue liner which seemingly will last approx 20 years. Again this was recommended as being the best by Stoveman, a previous poster here.

hernie

I'm in the market to buy a stove. Originally I was looking at solid fuel/wood stoves and then the sales guy asked us had we considered a gas stove as they have higher efficiency. We already have gas hooked up for the central heating. I was looking at the Valor Dream Homeflame Black

My question is which is cheaper to run? Is a 89% efficient gas stove cheaper to run than a 78% efficient solid fuel stove given that I would have to buy the fuel? Any advice much appreciated.

Sparkinthedart

Hi all, looking to get a inset boiler stove to heat the water plus 1 double and 3 single rads? Any advise much appreciated, cheers.

Brianne

What size is your room , also what size are the rads?

Autorotation

No one with anything to add about Inis inset stoves??....

Brianne

Best thing to do is ask the guy in store if he could possibly contact somebody who he's sold one of these stoves to and ask them if they would mind you going and seeing it in action. Thats what we did before we purchased ours.

Autorotation

Worth trying alright Brianne - thanks!

tommyh1977

Well purchased a Hamco Glendine Boiler model today, fitting next week, will let ye know how it goes!!

ccsolar

Autorotation wrote: »

No one with anything to add about Inis inset stoves??....

Hi autorotation
I have an Inis mor free standing with back boiler, it heats the whole house 12 rads and 300 litre tank of water no problem
We only light it in the evening and 1 fill of turf/ timber keeps it going all night
We fitted a Stanley for my neighbour and the Inis is miles ahead on output.
Hope this helps
Cc

Sparkinthedart

Brianne wrote: »

What size is your room , also what size are the rads?

its quite a small room, 3.5mts by 3.6mts the rads are 45" double and two 25" single an a 29" single.

Thank you for your quick reply

newtothis2011

I was wondering how the flexi flue is replaced?? I believe they last a long time but Im curious to know if replacing it is a big job??

woody1

Solid fuel boiler and heating zones

installed solid fuel boiler at the weekend, working away fine , massive heat out of it keeping rads hot,
its connected to the downstairs zone, and im wondering if i close off some rads downstairs in rooms i dont need heat in then will i get some heat going upstairs or will it always be limited to downstairs,

Brianne

Sparkinthedart do you have one of those rads in the room where the stove will be going?

Autorotation

ccsolar wrote: »

Hi autorotation
I have an Inis mor free standing with back boiler, it heats the whole house 12 rads and 300 litre tank of water no problem
We only light it in the evening and 1 fill of turf/ timber keeps it going all night
We fitted a Stanley for my neighbour and the Inis is miles ahead on output.
Hope this helps
Cc

Thanks very much for that info. It sounds like the Inis stoves might be a slightly better quality to the Stanleys....

Sparkinthedart

Brianne wrote: »

Sparkinthedart do you have one of those rads in the room where the stove will be going?

Yea there would be, the double.

Cheers

The cracken

hi all
i had a 30kw boiler stove fitted in October last year and the problem is now and again the water in the stove would start to boil and hiss i realized that the pump and rads didn't kick in when this happened. only by turning the thermostat down it would immediately kick in. i've had the installer back and he changed the pump still didn't sort it and then two weeks ago he changed the thermostat since then its been happening more frequently. we originally had the temp set at 50c then he said bring it down to 40c and now hes saying down to 30c.
if anyone had any idea what the problem could be i would be grateful.
many thanks in advance

Brianne

Sparkinthedart have you seen the Stanley Cara boiler inset stove? It should be sufficient. I know it says only 2 to room from it which sounds very little but the fact you have a double rad there you should be ok. Have you got much info from any of the stove shops? The inset we have gives 3 to room but we have a large double rad which we certainly need as the heat from the inset itself would not be sufficient in cold weather. If you could see the Stanley Cara in operation somewhere to give you an idea.

hernie

hernie wrote: »

I'm in the market to buy a stove. Originally I was looking at solid fuel/wood stoves and then the sales guy asked us had we considered a gas stove as they have higher efficiency. We already have gas hooked up for the central heating. I was looking at the Valor Dream Homeflame Black

My question is which is cheaper to run? Is a 89% efficient gas stove cheaper to run than a 78% efficient solid fuel stove given that I would have to buy the fuel? Any advice much appreciated.

Anyone any advice/opinion on the above query?

Mr Macphisto

Hi,

I am in the process of adding a sun room to my house, I am going to put a stove into.

The builder has suggested that I can put one in with a back boiler and connect into my excising oil fired central heating.

He said I can connect in through the water/supply return from the oil burner in my back garden, and I would also need a one way valve.

Would this work? and could I have the stove lit and turn off the rads using thermostatic valves if needed.

Also, what spec of stove would I need? and can you recommend any (modern, plain looking ones) the room is 5.6 X 3.8 m and I have 7 double rads and 7 single, and immersion tank.

Thank you

tiny timy

Hi all, installing a wood burning stove in a room as close as possi le to a plasterboard wall. We will be using the single skin flue initally coming off the stove before we have to join the twin flue liner going through the wall. My concern is the heat that the single skin will give off,i have read where the distance a flue like that has to be is 3 times the diameter away from a combustible material. 6 inch flue is what ill have.so my flue has to 18 inches from the wall,which make the stove stick out too far. Im wondering is there a heat shield that i can mount to the back of the flue to deflect the heat away from the wall? We dont want to use twin lined flue the whole way down as it wouldnt look great. Done some google searching and i can only find stuff n Canada to do the job,was hoping for somewhere in Ireland,England at a push.

Thanks

sonique1

Problems with Stratford EB20 Stove
Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on the consistent problems we are having with our stove which we installed in Nov 2012, prior to the stove we had an open fire.

there is a consistent smell/fumes from the stove when it is lit for a 2-3 hrs and gets worse as the night goes on. I have tried changing the thermostat values which makes no difference, neither does the air wash vent. We initially were burning a mix of briquettes & wood, the shop we bought it in suggested we burn only briquettes ,as the wood may not be dry enough,which we have done consistently since.
We have 15 rads, all of which are warm but by no means hot, they are not heating the house. I have an oil fired range which I have to use in the evenings to heat the rooms as the stove does not do the job. The stat is set at 40 degrees.
There is another major issue in that the chimney breast wall is piping hot and gets warmer as the evening goes on. The wall on the other side of the chimney breast is just as hot,which does not seem normal. both are also still warm the following morning
I do not have a vent in the room but do have 2 small windows open 24/7 for ventilation & to try and get rid of the smell.
Just wondering if anyone could shed any light on the matter.

PaddyJohn

Hi all,

Not related to the previous post, we are thinking of getting a Stratford EB25. This is to heat a large open plan area and 19 rads.

Does anyone have any experience with this stove?

thanks

twilo

Came across these stoves yesterday with a 5kw stove selling for 299 and an enamel selling for 425. These prices sound too good to be true. Anyone have any experice with Heritage Stoves?

albert kidd

hi twilo.

i bought the doolin inet stove from right price tiles back in october and its a great stove..fires out plenty of heat.

rainbowdash

twilo wrote: »

Came across these stoves yesterday with a 5kw stove selling for 299 and an enamel selling for 425. These prices sound too good to be true. Anyone have any experice with Heritage Stoves?

You will get them for even less on donedeal.ie, most of the stoves on the market come from china, stanley, Henley, Hamco, blacksmith, warrior, olymberyl ec.

In a lot of cases people just change the design of the front panel or doors, put a nice Irish sounding name on them and charge an extra €200 for the same product.

Like the Irish labelled chicken down in dunnes that are battery farmed in thailand, or the supermarkets 100% Irish beef burgers made with horsemeat from Poland.

sept09baby

Is this the right place for questions on range cookers as well as stoves?

Have moved in to a house with a range that's probably about 100 years old. It's a Wellstood Series G. Can't really find out anything about it online.

It heats the water but not the rads and I'll be using it to heat the kitchen as there's no other heat source there. Any tips of which fuels to use or tips about anything else I should know?

newtothis2011

Does anyone know how much coal it would take to heat 16 rads, using a 20kw stove, 7.5kw to room and 12.5kw to water???? Im guessing an awful lot???

gooner99

Looking into installing an insert stove for my mother. Background is she only had an open fire with back boiler that heated the hot water only. She had a few chimney fires that even cracked her chimney breast. She then got so afraid that she only placed a couple of sods of turf in the fire and had no heat. So we got oil fired central heating in for her about 15 years ago and cutoff the back boiler, although the actual boiler is still in the hearth.Since then the open fire is unused. Now with the rise in oil prices I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to install a non boiler insert stove, as it might be too big a job to connect up a back boiler again and I'd imagine the cylinder won't have unused connections for it. Am I right in saying that because she has had chimney fires that have cracked the breast she is best to use a double walled flexi-flue and if so should this be wrapped in insulation or is that not necessary. House was built in 1972. I am looking at the croi beag from boru and burn seasoned logs in it, as it matches her living room needs which I calculated at about 3kw and it's a pretty good price. Anyone experience with this stove and is a self install a good idea or best to get it installed by a proper installer. Last but not least, any idea who stocks these in Donegal?

d246

We are building a new house and my husband is keen to put in a solid fuel stove with a back boiler. It would be in the open plan kitchen/living/dining. My question is about the practicalities of constantly having to refill the stove and also the problem with dirt/dust/ash in this living area. We have a small stove in our current sitting room in which we burn turf and wood every day. The heat from it is fantastic but it constantly needs refilling and I hate the dirt and dust that is involved. Is there a more practical / cleaner option for a stove? Obviously a larger stove would fit more fuel and need less refilling but are there any other options? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

btb

@gooner99, flexiflue needs to be backfilled with vermiculate. This acts as insulator and prevents flue gasses cooling too rapidely. Comes in a bag and you just pour down between flexi and origional flue.

@d246 all solid fuels have the drawback of ash and dust. The only other alternative is a log/ pellet boiler in an external shed.

giveitholly

i'm installing a stove in my kitchen and was wondering what size i need to cover my needs. I've 8 double radiators(2x 120cm by 50cm, 2x 110cm by 40 cm, 130cm by 50cm, 70cm by 50cm, 100cm by 50cm, 120cm by 40cm). i also want hot water as well, I was looking at The Carraig Mor 20 k.w. Boru stove. Would this output be enough and if it was what other makes or models would people recommend

stephen_k

giveitholly wrote: »

i'm installing a stove in my kitchen and was wondering what size i need to cover my needs. I've 8 double radiators(2x 120cm by 50cm, 2x 110cm by 40 cm, 130cm by 50cm, 70cm by 50cm, 100cm by 50cm, 120cm by 40cm). i also want hot water as well, I was looking at The Carraig Mor 20 k.w. Boru stove. Would this output be enough and if it was what other makes or models would people recommend

Hi giveitholly,

The Carraig Mor 20kw (According to their liturature) will give 4kw to the room and 16kw to the boiler... You haven't given details of the size of your hot water cylinder, but assuming that you have a standard size (which requires 2.6kw) this would leave 13.6kw to the radiators, a 120x50 double rad takes approx. 2kw to heat it, looking at the radiator count you have this would give an approx. requirement of 15kw...

It depends on what your expectations of this stove are, If you want a stove to heat the main living areas in your home and give you a tank of hot water, (acting as a supplement to your existing central heating) then this stove will perform adequately, if however you want it to replace your central heating I feel it may be under powered... HTH

giveitholly

stephen_k wrote: »

Hi giveitholly,

The Carraig Mor 20kw (According to their liturature) will give 4kw to the room and 16kw to the boiler... You haven't given details of the size of your hot water cylinder, but assuming that you have a standard size (which requires 2.6kw) this would leave 13.4kw to the radiators, a 120x50 double rad takes approx. 2kw to heat it, looking at the radiator count you have this would give an approx. requirement of 15kw...

It depends on what your expectations of this stove are, If you want a stove to heat the main living areas in your home and give you a tank of hot water, (acting as a supplement to your existing central heating) then this stove will perform adequately, if however you want it to replace your central heating I feel it may be under powered... HTH

thanks for the reply stephen_k i want the stove to replace my central heating system(which is oil). The next stove is the carraig mor 30 k.w. which is very big. Is there any stove in between that you would recommend that might suit my needs

stephen_k

giveitholly wrote: »

thanks for the reply stephen_k i want the stove to replace my central heating system(which is oil). The next stove is the carraig mor 30 k.w. which is very big. Is there any stove in between that you would recommend that might suit my needs

Hi giveitholly,

We have 21kw stoves which jump in size to 30kw as well... I had a quick look, at other stoves manufacturers that we don't do, but I couldn't see one with a boiler output of around 17kw with 5/6kw to the room... You seem to be falling between two stones I'm afraid... However bear in mind that a 30kw will only give 30kw maximum output, if you have a smaller fire in it, you will get less output, so with use you might find the 30kw will give you the results you require...

giveitholly

stephen_k wrote: »

Hi giveitholly,

We have 21kw stoves which jump in size to 30kw as well... I had a quick look, at other stoves manufacturers that we don't do, but I couldn't see one with a boiler output of around 17kw with 5/6kw to the room... You seem to be falling between two stones I'm afraid... However bear in mind that a 30kw will only give 30kw maximum output, if you have a smaller fire in it, you will get less output, so with use you might find the 30kw will give you the results you require...

thanks for the advice stephen_k,it looks like i'll have to go with the carraig mor 30 k.w. Would you have any knowledge on the 25kw Green Stove,was looking at that one as well

giveitholly

i forgot to say that the room which the stove will be in has the dimensions 25ft by 13ft with no radiator in it

Jon012

Hi all, got huge shock today when I saw my esb bill up 100€. Only change us we installed a solid fuel stove which is heating the downstairs rads, has electric circulatory pump but that's all as far as I'm aware(far from an expert) surely that couldn't be putting up bill!! Can put finger on increase as if anything other electrical appliances used less due to work
Help

MugMugs

Folks is there an installer list on this forum??

I am in The North East and having serious issues finding somebody to install my stove !

Robbie.G

There is a list of fitters here http://www.orielflues.com/installation/

stephen_k

giveitholly wrote: »

thanks for the advice stephen_k,it looks like i'll have to go with the carraig mor 30 k.w. Would you have any knowledge on the 25kw Green Stove,was looking at that one as well

No experience of these stoves and I can't seem to get any information on the 25kw stove on any catalogue on line... However I assume that it gives 5/6 kw to the room leaving 20kw to the boiler which sounds sufficient for your needs... Best of luck with it...

blue100

Hi,

I am looking at an inset stove with back boiler. Had seen the Stanley Cara inset and believe there is one coming out in the next few weeks that heats up to 9 rads (current model heats up to 4). Have also read about the Stratford Inset stove. Are there any others?

Any views on which model is best?
Do inset models heat as well as stand alone?
Have read some less than flattering comments about Chinese manufactured stoves with poor parts on other posts - honestly not sure what brand they are referring to. Is it a concern?
Any advice on what questions to ask when purchasing?
I won't be able to have all radiators connected so should I get the radiator in the room where the stove is connected or should there be enough heat in that room with just the stove? (standard 4 bed semi sitting room adjoined to dining room)

Thanks!

Brianne

Blue we recently put in a Yola inset stove and we are pleased with it. We have 5 single and 2 double rads off it. You will need a rad in the room its in most definitely, a double rad would be best especially if your room is fairly big, we actually changed to a double rad from a single in the room its in and we need that. The inset will not throw as much heat to the room as a stand alone. It heats the rads very well but as it has a large firebox you will use a fair amount of fuel in very cold weather. Its totally Irish made in Wexford. Get onto their website and give them a ring re price. I paid 1575 for mine from a stove shop and Emerald Stoves online have it for 1100--huge difference.

stephen_k

blue100 wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking at an inset stove with back boiler. Had seen the Stanley Cara inset and believe there is one coming out in the next few weeks that heats up to 9 rads (current model heats up to 4). Have also read about the Stratford Inset stove. Are there any others?

Any views on which model is best?
Do inset models heat as well as stand alone?
Have read some less than flattering comments about Chinese manufactured stoves with poor parts on other posts - honestly not sure what brand they are referring to. Is it a concern?
Any advice on what questions to ask when purchasing?
I won't be able to have all radiators connected so should I get the radiator in the room where the stove is connected or should there be enough heat in that room with just the stove? (standard 4 bed semi sitting room adjoined to dining room)

Thanks!

Hi blue100, first off I would not buy a stove by "how many radiators" it does, this is endemic in retailers selling stoves that do not have the correct training in sizing stoves... Saying a stove is capable of heating 9 rads is meaningless unless you know what size the radiators and what else is required in the system (hot water cylinder for example)...

The Stanley Cara as you pointed out is a room heater only at the moment, however I would say that the cast iron for Stanley, Henley, Olymberel, Blacksmith, Mulberry and a few others all come out of China... I am not saying there is anything wrong with any of these stoves, if installed correctly and used correctly they are a fine affordable stove. There are other UK brands Stratford and Charnwood being the well known ones that AFAIK use UK cast iron which would be considered of a "better" construction however like anything else you have to pay a premium for this... So it comes down to budget...

My advise would be ask if the person selling you the stove has completed a HETAS course, so they have the correct knowledge on sizing and fitting a stove correctly to building regs... Have they advised you on suitable surrounds for the stove, correct hearth sizes, advise on the possibility of relining your chimney if necessary, or do they just say "Ah sure it'll do 10 rads no problem"??

To size the stove correctly I would need a list of all your radiator sizes and the size (length x width x height) of the room the stove is going, also any information on insulation added or not, double glazing etc would help...

Southie40

Hi looking for some help. Im looking for an insert boiler stove for my hse. Trying to size it but i don't know how to do it using solo radiatord. I just want the stove to heat downstairs rads. I have 3 solo 60's, 1 double 500 x 1000, 3 singles 600 x 600. Also the hot water cylinder is a 200l.I know the room to heat requires 3.5kw. Anyone have experience with these? The stove will be used with Ofch. So will be using that upstairs. I have the house zoned upstairs/downstairs. Any assistance would be great!